An Alaska lawyer who is fighting the sovereignty of the state's tribes is advising the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission. The appointment of Anchorage attorney Don Mitchell to an advisory working group prompted the resignation of Ross Schaeffer...

The Bush administration retaliated against Indian beneficiaries last fall by withholding checks and other information about their trust accounts, a federal judge said on Monday. But if Interior Secretary Gale Norton wants to prove otherwise, she should come to court...

Some Indian programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be seeing a cut in fiscal year 2006 but tribes have reason to remain optimistic, a top Bush administration official said on Tuesday. Speaking at the United South...

A Montana tribe's agreement to manage some services at the National Bison Range is affecting six federal employees. The agreement doesn't go into effect until March but those affected are being told to decide their future by February 18. The...

A former executive for the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes of Montana was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling thousands of dollars. Gregory Morris Powderface, 36, pleaded guilty in October to theft...

"The Washington State Department of Transportation did the right thing when it stopped construction at a site that turned out to be a massive Indian cemetery and cultural site. As construction associated with the Hood Canal Bridge repair project commenced,...

Members of the Chinook Nation of Washington are excited by the discovery of the remnants of an historic tribal village. Known as Quat-sam-ts, the village was one of the largest and most prominent in the Pacific Northwest at the time...

'Last year, we wrote, 'Dave Anderson of Famous Dave's barbecue restaurants just might be the right person at the right time to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It would be a shame if he took the job under a...

The South Dakota Legislature on Monday approved a bill designating fry bread as the official state bread. "Does it represent our heritage? Does it represent our culture? Does it represent our history?" asked State Rep. Larry Rhoden, a Republican. He...

Tribes in the Pacific Northwest say the Bush administration's expansion of the Office of Special Trustee is infringing on their sovereignty. Meeting in Portland for the annual Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians conference, tribal leaders said OST is taking away...

Indian women in Minnesota are among the state's poorest, according to a new study by the Women's Foundation of Minnesota. Based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census, the foundation reported that 26.3 percent of Indian women are poor. This...

The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba has won approval for an urban reserve in the city of Thompson. The First Nation can now assume full jurisdiction of a downtown hotel it owns. The band plans to build a new office...

A troubled Innu community in northern Labrador is still at risk for many social problems despite an influx of $350 million (Canadian) over the past decade, CBC News reports. The federal government spent about $280 million to relocate the entire...

The non-profit Boys and Girls Club of Navajo Inc. has lost its charter, The Gallup Independent reports. "The organization has been closed," a vice president of the national Boys and Girls Clubs of America said. "They were not meeting membership...

President Bush has nominated a replacement for former Interior Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles. Lynn Scarlett, the assistant secretary of policy, management and budget, is being promoted to the number 2 post at Interior. She has been with the department...

The Fort Mojave Tribe celebrated the opening of a new gym next to its Boys and Girls Club. The tribe used a $550,000 Community Block Grant and $725,000 of its own money to build the facility. It houses a regulation-sized...

Mexican drug gangs are forcing tribal communities to abandon their traditional crops and grow marijuana and heroin poppies, the National Anthropology and History Institute reported on Tuesday. The gangs have targeted the Tarahumara, Guarijio and Pima tribes in the western...

Controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill addressed an audience of more than a thousand during an appearance on the Boulder campus on Tuesday night. School officials had canceled the speech, citing security reasons, but put it back on after...

The Seneca Nation of New York is finalizing construction of its own power plant. The $5.6 million plant will power the tribe's casino and new hotel. It is expected to pay for itself within six or seven years and save...